The first banquet hall that only calmed down a few minutes ago was once again thrown into an uproar, and it wasn't just a meager 30 dissenting voices this time.
Damien's provocation only struck those specific 30, but his words actually had an unknown splash effect that hit almost 100 elders for one simple reason:
"How dare a young brat act so arrogant to his elders?!"
The Director and Commander Huo watched, unknowing of whether to laugh or cry as this very statement was echoed over and over again while these elders contacted their best disciples and placed targets on Damien's back.
In this situation, what could the two of them do? These elders wouldn't calm down if they used force and status to suppress them, and that bottled-up resentment would become an even greater blade aimed at Damien's throat.
The only real solution was for Damien to utterly crush their geniuses. If that happened, force and status could be used with justification, and these elders wouldn't be able to act no matter how hard they wanted to.
In fact, this was usually the strategy used by larger forces to support their most promising young geniuses.
As the commotion grew, a voice echoed through the hall.
"Gentlemen, I will not stop you from targeting that genius, but I advise you to be patient," Luciel said with a mysterious smile.
"Why should we listen to you?! You are clearly biased towards that young brat!" an elder shouted out.
Oh, am I?" Luciel replied with the same calm expression. "I wonder, will you feel the same after observing the current situation?"
He directed their attention back to the various screens displaying the secret realm's situation, particularly the one that followed Damien.
"What do you–"
"Wait, that is–"
"Shh, don't say anything! Don't you know who his master is…?"
Two elders were quieted instantly before they could say anything they regretted, and with the reminder of the last, all those watching the screens suddenly understood what was happening.
Their eyes no longer lingered on Damien, but focused earnestly on the man facing him.
Luciel's eyes curved into crescents as he watched the immediate shift in their attitudes.
"Let us observe for now. I'm sure you all understand…right?"
His words were met with silence…
***
…a complete contradiction to the atmosphere of the secret realm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A set of dual blades crossed over each other to block the attack of a single sword that slammed into their intersecting point.
The air exploded upon their collision, adding to the atrocious melody of explosive impacts that reverberated through this specific portion of the secret realm.
'Void Sword Art First Step: Bladeless'
Mirage turned into a haze as the atmosphere was torn apart by spatial gashes. Damien pressed forward and attacked ferociously, leaving not a single opening for his opponent.
"As expected, you're good!" Su Ren exclaimed as he twisted his body impossibly and avoided the terrifying strength of Bladeless.
His white blade rose upward along Mirage's edge while the black blade slanted downward to break Damien's stance.
"Woah!"
Damien stepped back and leaned his body, just barely avoiding the blade slashing at his face.
"Haha, how fun!"
He laughed boisterously and twisted his waist, gathering momentum as he held Mirage up parallel to the ground.
'Void Sword Art Second Step: Horizon Break'
Clang!
Unlike the usual dull thump heard after Horizon Break, the atmosphere rang with the sound of metals clashing.
Su Ren stood with a swirl of grey mana covering his white sword. In the finest layers of space, Damien could just vaguely see this mana suppressing the spatial rupture created by his attack.
"Oh, that's some interesting mana," Damien complimented with a grin.
"I am aware. After all, I created it myself."
Su Ren shot forward like a speeding bullet, that mysterious grey mana swirling into a storm around him as he slashed his blades together as one.
The only word to possibly describe that slash was "perfection."
Perfection in form, in technique, in movement, in internal regulation, in mana control–
Merely, perfection.
'Pure Force, 73rd iteration, Dual Slash.'
Damien's eyes widened.
999 Dimensional Cages rose around him in a single instant. In the next, a horrifying wave of mana crashed into his defenses.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
One by one, the spatial fields were shattered and sentenced to oblivion. 999 became 100 soon enough, and Damien was forced to teleport over a kilometer to the right to avoid the mana storm.
'Hoo, that one would've hurt.' he thought to himself, his eyes hardening.
He lifted his hand and wiped a drop of blood from the cut on his lip.
'What a fresh feeling.'
Su Ren proved himself to be a complete subversion of Damien's expectations of this secret realm. Not only was he powerful, he was extremely adept at utilizing his power.
Even now, seeing the way he calmly watched Damien from the distance, it was clear that he expected his opponent to easily dodge the previous attack.
'Or rather, it was a test, and I lived up to his expectations…'
'...though, he's only reciprocating what he's being given, so I can't say anything.'
"Alright then!" Damien exclaimed.
"It's time to go a bit harder."
'Dimension Shift.'
The world bisected. Its two halves, split by a fine line, slid against each other like the lifeless halves of a body.
Within the severed world, only Damien existed. All other beings were trapped by the dimensions of reality…
…or at least, that was the usual scenario.
However, in this very moment, Su Ren stood filled with vitality and life in this world lacking any. The field Damien sensed before, the pure natural materialization of his blade intent, cut him away from the dimension itself, allowing him to exist uniquely in almost any environment.
Damien's grin widened ferociously.
'Samsara Intent: Frozen Wheel.'
'Spacetime Severance.'
'Void Breathing Second Technique: Absolute Mastery'
Rapid fire, without pause, before Su Ren could comprehend the situation; all of these descriptions accurately portrayed the speed at which these three domineering abilities were launched.
Frozen Wheel, a technique similar to a domain. Damien established a dominion over a certain area and, within that area, used his influence to freeze the Wheel of Samsara, the cycle of life and death. This immediately disabled any sort of healing factor the enemy possessed and made sure the embrace of death was always lurking around them, breaking their mentality.
Spacetime Severance struck once the Wheel of Samsara was frozen, severing the bisected world once more, this time on a far more conceptual level. Spacetime Severance had one purpose and one purpose alone: to wipe all things from existence.
And finally, a technique Damien was testing for the very first time; a technique that used the ethereal aspect of the Breath of Nothingness to artificially enhance Damien in a single aspect, bringing him to what he hypothesized should be a state near absolute mastery, hence the name.
Absolute Mastery was a technique that could only be tested in combat, but Damien had been in a special situation where he couldn't find any opponents who could properly match him…
'...until now.'
Huu…
Damien took a deep breath and relished in the enlightening feeling filling his body.
And he kept his awareness trained on the man he was so thankful for, the man who would finally allow him to gain a relative understanding of his strength, and the man who, even after facing Spacetime Severance, stood completely unharmed.
Damien raised Mirage and pointed it at that man as he roared with fervor:
"COME!"
